received through the Word, but they deny that believers receive anything in the eucharist that was not granted and communicated to the saints under the Old Testament. This of course is decisive. Under the old dispensation it was only the sacrificial efficacy of his broken body and shed blood that could be enjoyed. He died for the remission of sins " under the first testament." (Heb. ix. 15.) Therefore the fathers as well as we, and they as fully as we, are cleansed by the sprinkling of his blood ; to them, as well as to us, He was the true bread which came down from heaven ; they all drank of that Spiritual Rock which was Christ. Calvin devotes several pages to the refutation of the doctrine of the Ro- manists that the sacraments of the Old Testament only signified grace, while those of the New actually convey it. He maintains that, though different in form, they are the same in nature, object, and effect. " Scholasticum autem illud dogma, quo tarn longum discrimen inter veteris ac novas Legis sacramenta notatur, perinde acsi ilia non aliud quam Dei gratiam adumbrarint, haec vero praesentem conferant, penitus explodendum est. Siquidem nihilo splendidius de illis Apostolus quam de his loquitur, quum docet patres eandem nobiscum spiritualem escam manducasse : et
escam illam Christum interpretatur (1 Cor. x. 3) Quic-
quid ergo nobis hodie in sacramentis exhibetur, id in suis olim re- cipiebant Judaei, Christum scilicet cum spiritualibus suis divitiis* Quam habent nostra virtutem, earn quoque in suis sentiebant ; ut scilicet essent illis divinae erga se benevolentiae sigilla in spem asternae salutis." He quotes freely from Augustine to prove that that eminent father taught " Sacramenta Judaeorum in signis fuere diversa : in re quae significatur, paria, diversa specie visibili, paria virtute spirituali." 1
With these negative statements agree all the affirmations con- cerning the presence of the body and blood in the Lord's Supper. What is affirmed to be present is not the body and blood of Christ absolutely, but his body as broken, and his blood as shed. It is the sacrifice which He offered that is present and of which the believer partakes. It is present to the mind, not to our bodies. It is perceived and received by faith and not otherwise. He is not present to unbelievers. By presence is meant not local near- ness, but intellectual cognition and apprehension, believing ap- propriation, and spiritual operation. The body and blood are present to us when they fill our thoughts, are apprehended by
1 See Institution iv. xiv. §§ 20-26, especially §§ 23, 26 ; edit. Berlin, 1834, part ii. pp. 362-367.